Computer file backup plans?

Marc_G said:

Some routers and switches will drop from gigabit to 100 Mbit if ANY of the devices connected are 100 Mbit. So, take a working gigabit system, plug a Roku into it, and all devices now drop down to 100.

Click to expand...

Not true, that is unless the lower speed device is part of the path.

While there may be some switches that drop down to the lowest common denominator, I don't know of any commercial ones.

Wireless yes. Depending on how many radios they have, they can drop down to the speed to the slowest client. Again with some commercial APs they are able to support slow clients and maintain higher speed clients independently.

mpitfield said:

Not true, that is unless the lower speed device is part of the path.

While there may be some switches that drop down to the lowest common denominator, I don't know of any commercial ones.

Wireless yes. Depending on how many radios they have, they can drop down to the speed to the slowest client. Again with some commercial APs they are able to support slow clients and maintain higher speed clients independently.

Click to expand...

I have an older TPlink I think gigabit switch; if any device isn't gigabit, the whole thing drops down. I took it out of service due to this.

If your switch is behaving this way, I honestly don't know if it is by design or due to a fault, however, this is an exception. The norm is that this is not the behaviour.

It is possible, and likely, that the switch is oversubscribed to the point where the switch doesn't have the resources to transmit beyond a specific speed. I don't work with TPLink, but we do replace a lot of them. We primarily work with HP Procurves and Cisco switches and for the most part they all function at 1:1, full wire speed across all ports. In other words, if you have a 24 port 10/100/1000 switch then the maximum theoretical speed is 24 x 1000 x 2, in full-duplex, and they don't need to store or buffer data.

This is a theoretical max, however, better quality switches will have enough switching fabric to ensure that all ports and transmit and receive at their theoretical max. Because this is unlikely both manufacturers and service providers over-subscribe their products, commonly at 2:1. This over-subscribing practice is fairly common in the service provider space.

Older hubs would run at the slowest speed of any device. A true switch should have all ports independent of each other and can negotiate each port to its own speed. You can get an unmanaged 8 port 1G switch from TPLink for less than $30 that will negotiate speed for each port.

I run my core on a managed 10G switch and then leaf out to various rooms with 1G unmanaged switches. My NAS, the internet router and my media server are on the core 10G switch.

Another thing that can lead to the perception of slow backup speeds is the way you have file verification set. If it’s doing a full comparison of each file, it will copy the file, then read what’s on the target drive, then compare it byte for byte to the source drive (which basically means it has to copy it from the target drive back to the source drive.
Every USB drive I’ve used comes with its own backup software that takes full advantage of the features of the drive. I’m glad you found it.

Many home routers do gigabit on one link and the other four 100mbit.

Interfaces on commercial switches, routers, and firewalls are often configured with different speeds and even media types. There is no rule when it comes to this, it is a matter of matching the needs of the environment with the hardware config. However, they are independent when it comes to speed and duplex.